Kallis 33rd Century Holds up England

Cape Town: Jacques Kallis hit his 33rd century in Tests as South Africa recovered from 127-5 to reach 279-6 on the opening day of the third Test against England.

Kallis made a chanceless unbeaten 108, and featured in an 89-run stand with Mark Boucher (51) for the sixth wicket.

James Anderson and Graeme Swann each took two wickets for England, who opted to field first on winning the toss.

South Africa dropped Makhaya Ntini for Friedel de Wet in the only change made by either side at picturesque Newlands.

As Middlesex became front-runners to pick up Ntini on a potentially highly valuable Kolpak contract, the focus in Cape Town quickly switched to how South Africa could overturn their 1-0 deficit in the series.

And that they still had a reasonable chance to do so when stumps were drawn was all because of Kallis.

This three-figure score put him fifth on the all-time list of Test century-makers as he went ahead of Steve Waugh, and one ton shy of Brian Lara in fourth place.

With the start of play delayed by half an hour following some light morning showers, and a thick layer of cloud concealing Table Mountain, the attacking move for a captain to win the toss was clearly to field first.

Andrew Strauss did exactly that, and his tactic was instantly rewarded when the fourth ball of the match produced a wicket. Anderson sent down a wicked delivery, just back of a length and seaming away from Ashwell Prince.

The out-of-form left-hander nicked it to wicketkeeper Matt Prior and England, still buzzing after taking a 1-0 series lead in Durban, were on the march.

They should have had their next wicket just three balls later when Graeme Smith leant forward and across to drive Graham Onions through the covers only to get a thick edge.

He turned round, expecting Swann to complete an easy catch but England's star turn in recent times, fielding at second slip to protect Paul Collingwood's fractured finger, made a terrible mess of the chance, with Jonathan Trott attempting in vain to grab the rebound.

Brief scores
South Africa: 279 for six (Kallis 108*, Boucher 51)

Scores	Upcoming	Results
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